AND CALL to mind, through this divine writ, Mary. Lo! She withdrew from her family to an eastern place 16 And had chosen seclusion from them. Then We sent unto her Our Spirit and it assumed for her the likeness of a perfect man. 17 She said: Lo! I seek refuge in the Beneficent One from thee, if thou art Allah-fearing. 18 [The angel] answered: "I am but a messenger of thy Sustainer, [who says,] 'I shall bestow upon thee the gift of a son endowed with purity.'" 19 Mary said: "How can a boy be born to me when no man has even touched me, nor have I ever been unchaste?" 20 "Even so" he replied, "as such your Lord has said: 'Easy it is for Me. And We shall make him a sign to mankind and a mercy from Us. It is a matter decreed.'" 21 ۞ When she conceived him she went away to a distant place. 22 And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm-tree: She cried (in her anguish): "Ah! would that I had died before this! would that I had been a thing forgotten and out of sight!" 23 He called from below to her: 'Do not sorrow, look, your Lord has provided a rivulet below you, 24 and shake the trunk of the palm-tree towards thee: it will drop fresh, ripe dates upon thee. 25 So eat and drink and be consoled. And if thou meetest any mortal, say: Lo! I have vowed a fast unto the Beneficent, and may not speak this day to any mortal. 26 So carrying him in her arms, she brought him to her people; they said, “O Maryam, you have indeed committed a great evil!” 27 O sister of Harun: thy father was not a man of evil, nor was thy mother a harlot. 28 So she pointed to him. They said, "How can we speak to one who is in the cradle a child?" 29 He said, 'Lo, I am God's servant; God has given me the Book, and made me a Prophet. 30 He has made me blessed wherever I may be, and has enjoined upon me prayer and almsgiving throughout my life. 31 And be dutiful to my mother. He has not made me haughty or rebellious. 32 “And peace is upon me the day I was born, and on the day I shall taste death, and on the day I will be raised alive.” 33 This was Jesus, son of Mary: A true account they contend about. 34 It does not befit Allah to take for Himself a son. Glory be to Him! When He decrees a thing He only says: "Be" and it is. 35 Surely God is my Lord, and your Lord; So serve you Him. This is a straight path. 36 Yet the sectarians differed among themselves. Alas for the unbelievers when they see the Terrible Day! 37 How clearly shall they hear and how clearly shall they see on the day when they come to Us; but the unjust this day are in manifest error. 38 Warn them of [the coming of] the Day of Remorse, when everything will have been decided, while they are heedless and do not believe. 39 Verily We shall inherit the earth and whosoever is on it, and to Us they will return. 40